Post by Trade facilitator on Nov 20, 2017 20:10:16 GMT 1
On assumption of office about two years ago, top among the discoveries made by Governor Emmanuel Gabriel Udom of Akwa Ibom State was the heavy dependence of his people on other states for the production of cassava derivatives - garri and fufu - which serve as their staple food. In fact, hardly can a household in the state do without ‘akpu’ for a day. Notwithstanding the state’s endowment of good vegetation, climate and soil, farmers had, before the governor’s assumption of office, recorded massive shortfall in cassava cultivation and production. He thus immediately chose to confront the challenge head-on.
Poised to bridge the gap in the state’s food sufficiency, employment rate, and foreign exchange earnings, Governor Udom quickly set machineries in motion to lift the state from dependence on allocations from federal government to self- reliance, with keen interest in the cassava sub-sector. To achieve this vision, the governor took the pragmatic step of constituting a Technical Committee on Agriculture and Food Sufficiency, with a mandate to provide technical inputs and fashion out a roadmap for the attainment of food sufficiency for local consumption and export. Chairman of the Committee, Professor Edet J. Udoh, disclosed the progress made so far on the project and plans to realise a Cassava State.
He highlighted a three-pronged strategy including establishing a cooperative agricultural system, whereby the committee will serve as a technical coach to farmers, guiding them through all the processes, from business plan writing to profitable sales of their products. As a proof of the credibility of the governor's vision of economic transformation of the state, Prof. Udoh hinted on appreciable expansion of land and produce of the cassava crop, within the few years of running the project. Said he, “For the first year we started, we were able to cultivate 450 hectares, and as of July this year, we had cultivated 1,400 hectares of cassava. That is in terms of production. ’’With a triple growth record and counting, Akwa Ibom State aims to boost cassava cultivation to 6,000 hectares come 2018. The government has also shown dogged commitment towards improving the value chain by setting up three processing plants with 15 metric tons capacity per day. This, of a truth, is a compelling demonstration of a government’s determination to explore and harness the state’s natural resources as machinery for poverty alleviation for the people.
Private Sector Participation: The Way Forward
Government can never understand the dynamics of profit and loss nor invest in farming as actively as the private sector pushed by a need for higher profit margins. Therefore, while it is laudable that government sets the tone of engagement through policies and legal frameworks, there cannot be true progress in this sector without private sector buy-in.
It is for this reason that activities of organizations such as Niji Group of Companies should not go unmentioned.
The group has invested and spread its tentacles across the value chain of the cassava subsector. Niji Farms has a daily output of 20 toones, while aiming at increasing it to 120tons per day, with a cultivated cassava farmland of over 4000 acres. Its production is presently carried out with the aid of a Dornow peeling and washing machine with two tones/hour capacity powered by 24 hour running diesel generator. The company also possesses six garri fryers with 500kg and 750kg capacities respectively; and two flash dryers, dedicated for the production of odourless fufu and cassava flour. It has equally invested in two packaging machines, imported from the United Kingdom, with the capacity of over 100,000 sachets per day. The future of cassava in Nigeria may look bleak but there is light ahead. Quality collaborations between government and private sector in the areas of research into crop development and investor friendly policies will go a long way to spark the interest of all in the subsector. The success story of private investments like Niji Group should be investigated with a view to coming up with positions that will assist other investors who may be inclined to contribute to this sector. This can pave way for robust and 3Fs cassava cultivation for economic transformation in Nigeria. As the Founder and CEO of Yes Bank, India, once aptly wrote, “It is only when the concerned stakeholders come together under the common umbrella of enhancing agricultural growth that we will be able to identify specific focus areas where institutional reforms are needed and comprehend the nature of these reforms”.
Poised to bridge the gap in the state’s food sufficiency, employment rate, and foreign exchange earnings, Governor Udom quickly set machineries in motion to lift the state from dependence on allocations from federal government to self- reliance, with keen interest in the cassava sub-sector. To achieve this vision, the governor took the pragmatic step of constituting a Technical Committee on Agriculture and Food Sufficiency, with a mandate to provide technical inputs and fashion out a roadmap for the attainment of food sufficiency for local consumption and export. Chairman of the Committee, Professor Edet J. Udoh, disclosed the progress made so far on the project and plans to realise a Cassava State.
He highlighted a three-pronged strategy including establishing a cooperative agricultural system, whereby the committee will serve as a technical coach to farmers, guiding them through all the processes, from business plan writing to profitable sales of their products. As a proof of the credibility of the governor's vision of economic transformation of the state, Prof. Udoh hinted on appreciable expansion of land and produce of the cassava crop, within the few years of running the project. Said he, “For the first year we started, we were able to cultivate 450 hectares, and as of July this year, we had cultivated 1,400 hectares of cassava. That is in terms of production. ’’With a triple growth record and counting, Akwa Ibom State aims to boost cassava cultivation to 6,000 hectares come 2018. The government has also shown dogged commitment towards improving the value chain by setting up three processing plants with 15 metric tons capacity per day. This, of a truth, is a compelling demonstration of a government’s determination to explore and harness the state’s natural resources as machinery for poverty alleviation for the people.
Private Sector Participation: The Way Forward
Government can never understand the dynamics of profit and loss nor invest in farming as actively as the private sector pushed by a need for higher profit margins. Therefore, while it is laudable that government sets the tone of engagement through policies and legal frameworks, there cannot be true progress in this sector without private sector buy-in.
It is for this reason that activities of organizations such as Niji Group of Companies should not go unmentioned.
The group has invested and spread its tentacles across the value chain of the cassava subsector. Niji Farms has a daily output of 20 toones, while aiming at increasing it to 120tons per day, with a cultivated cassava farmland of over 4000 acres. Its production is presently carried out with the aid of a Dornow peeling and washing machine with two tones/hour capacity powered by 24 hour running diesel generator. The company also possesses six garri fryers with 500kg and 750kg capacities respectively; and two flash dryers, dedicated for the production of odourless fufu and cassava flour. It has equally invested in two packaging machines, imported from the United Kingdom, with the capacity of over 100,000 sachets per day. The future of cassava in Nigeria may look bleak but there is light ahead. Quality collaborations between government and private sector in the areas of research into crop development and investor friendly policies will go a long way to spark the interest of all in the subsector. The success story of private investments like Niji Group should be investigated with a view to coming up with positions that will assist other investors who may be inclined to contribute to this sector. This can pave way for robust and 3Fs cassava cultivation for economic transformation in Nigeria. As the Founder and CEO of Yes Bank, India, once aptly wrote, “It is only when the concerned stakeholders come together under the common umbrella of enhancing agricultural growth that we will be able to identify specific focus areas where institutional reforms are needed and comprehend the nature of these reforms”.
